The Taiwan Travel Act signed on Friday by US President Donald Trump has dealt a serious blow to the complex ties between China and the United States, as well as to cross-Straits peace and stability, a Chinese official said on Sunday.The act sends the wrong signal to Taiwan independence separatists, said An Fengshan, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office.Trump pledged shortly after taking office to support the one-China policy. The act says that the US government should encourage visits between officials of Taiwan and the United States at all levels.Once again, I would like to solemnly urge Taiwan that relying on foreigners to build you up will only backfire, An said.On Saturday, the Foreign Ministry and Ministry of National Defense also spoke out.Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Beijing firmly opposes Trump's signing of the act and has lodged serious representations to the US side.As has been pointed out many times by China, the key clauses of the act, though not legally binding, severely violate the one-China principle and the three joint communiques between China and the United States, Lu said.Beijing urges Washington to correct its mistake, stop pursuing any official ties with Taiwan or improving its current relations with Taiwan in any substantive way, Lu said.Taiwan-related issues should be handled properly and cautiously, Lu said.Wu Qian, spokesman for the Defense Ministry, warned in a statement issued later on Saturday that the act interferes in China's domestic affairs and undermines the development of ties between China and the US, including their militaries.Taiwan is a part of China, and matters regarding it are strictly internal affairs, Wu said.To avoid inflicting serious damage on China-US relations, as well as on peace and stability, Wu said, the US should keep its promises, rectify its wrongs, refrain from implementing certain clauses of the act, stop making military contacts and stop selling arms to Taiwan.Yuan Zheng, a senior researcher on US foreign policy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the act will motivate the separatists in Taiwan and worsen the situation there. silicone bracelets custom cheaprubber silicone braceletsrubber wristbandsrubber wristbands in bulk
An arched steel structure is built on the Shenzhen-Maoming Railway to reduce noise. [Southcn.com] Sound level reduced to 50 decibels, similar to that of normal conversation Engineers and technicians working on the Shenzhen-Maoming Railway, an important transport link between the two coastal cities in Guangdong province, have finished construction of a fully enclosed noise barrier on a section running through an ecological scenic site. The 2,036-meter arched steel structure, with sound insulation and concrete acoustic boards, is just 800 meters from Birds' Paradise, a scenic and ecological attraction in Jiangmen, Guangdong. The attraction, which is covered by 400-year-old banyan trees, is home to more than 30,000 birds of over 40 varieties. The paradise became a popular site after celebrated Chinese writer Ba Jin penned The Birds' Paradise after he took in the lush scenery of the tree-covered island in the early 1930s. The noise barrier cost 180 million yuan ($27.5 million), according to Fifth Construction Ltd of China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group. It was the first of its kind in high-speed railway construction using technology for a fully enclosed sound barrier, it said. Construction was not allowed between March and July, which is often a breeding period for birds on the island, the builder said. The fully enclosed sound barrier will help reduce about 30 percent of traffic noise, a safe standard for the living and breeding environment of the birds, said Mo Yongchun, a manager with China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group. The 390-kilometer Shenzhen-Maoming Railway, which is designed for train speeds up to 200 kilometers per hour, is scheduled to open in mid-2018. According to Mo, the noise will be 76.5 decibels at a distance of 3.5 meters from the railway when a train passes - about the same as a car. It will be below 50 decibels at the Birds' Paradise, said Liu Zhenbiao, assistant chief engineer of the Bridge Design and Research Department of the China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group. That is about as loud as a normal conversation. The noise will pose no threat to the living conditions of birds, he said. According to Liu, the barrier is designed to stand up to the high winds of a typhoon. [email protected]
